A weekly podcast tracing the history of the Roman Empire, beginning with Aeneas's arrival in Italy
and ending with the exile of Romulus Augustulus,
last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Now complete!

October 16, 2011

155- The New Bishop of Milan

In 383 the General Magnus Maximus rose up in revolt against Gratian. The power sharing agreement that followed Maximus's victory would be negotiated in part by St. Ambrose, the influencial new Bishop of Milan.

Update: The first Sack of Rome was in 410 not 406. Brain fart corrected.

This was a really enjoyable episode Mike! However, disapointing to see the 'Altar of Victory' being removed - It seems as if with each episode Rome loses a bit more of its Roman-ness (If there is such a word)

Great episode! I really like to hear about historical figures even if they don't happen to be emperors. By the way were the emperors adressed as 'imperator' or 'dominus' or was there some other term altogether?

@ Anthony and Carlos about 'The City of God' reference. Augustine DID write 'The City of God', but Ambrose was a pivotal figure in Augustine's conversion to Christianity. Ambrose even baptized Augustine. So I took the reference to mean that without Ambrose's influence, Augustine would have remained a happy pagan and we would all have been spared having to read the book.

Excellent Podcast as always. We are now reaching the point of the beginning of the end for the Western Empire. The usurper Magnus Maximus would be the last strong Emperor to hold sway over the Western Empire. Afterwards the Western Empire would be ruled by weak and ineffective Emperors ruling an increasingly smaller empire. It is sad to see Rome at this time only a shadow of it's former glorious self. Perhaps Stilicho or Aetius could have turned it around. We will never know.

Loved the nugget on the "Altar of Victory" and your Indiana Jones aside.

The discovery of the Altar would have been more in line with the heroic archeologist protecting us from relics of the past too powerful to allow to fall into enemy hands. I also was disappointed that the films returned to Christianity in the 3rd film and would have rather have had another culture's relic explored, Shinto maybe.

Another super episode - we're heading into a region of time where many of our history courses nodded off. You're highlighting the fact that this era is no less exciting than other oft-mentioned Roman vignettes. Thanks Mike.

+2 and LOL on the snarky Spielberg/Indiana Jones critique. I'll take my ancient history with a dash of sarcasm and humor. Makes it more fun and a little less dusty that way. Keep up the good work, snf kufod zzz9

(Whoops. Man, I hate this new "ergonomic" keyboard sometimes.)

What was I sayin'? Oh, yeah- keep up the good work and kudos for bein' yourself. Your podcast is both informative AND fun. I dunno about the others, but that keeps ME comin' back, episode after episode.

I agree with the Indy comment. It's those asides that just makes the whole series entertaining as well as educational (which of course means I learn more!)

One suggestion, I'd like to hear a couple more references to modern geographical locations to help me picture the events more clearly. It was so cool to hear Heidelberg and the Rhine mentioned recently as I left Heidelberg to cross the Rhine on the train!

I'd never heard of St Ambrose until this episode. Honestly! Some of us listeners of THOR happen to come from non-Christian worlds so we are not that well informed as to who brought down the Roman Empire. We like to think it was us barbarians whodunit. :)

It is also noteworthy that the name 'Hitler' suddenly makes an appearance on the show. I am sure Godwin's Law was breached quite unintentionally here. No one in their right mind would compare St Ambrose with Hitler now, would they? Apart from bringing down thousand-year-reichs, they have nothing in common.

The best bits in this crackling episode concerned the fate of the Altar of Victory. Another piece of Roman soul disappears. The end is nigh!